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globalsource-blog · 7 years

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Global Source meets B.L.O.O.M.

Artist - Ellis Lewin-Turner for B.L.O.O.M.

Some things never change. Night follows day, winter turns to spring, and when it comes to the arts, mediocrity is rewarded while true brilliance often goes unrecognised. Having spent the last two years as a student in Manchester, I can attest that this is nowhere more evident than on that city’s thriving nightlife scene. Year in, year out, venues like Factory, Tiger Tiger and the infamous Fifth have punters queuing around the block for the chance to hear the same ten commercial house tracks mixed badly with whatever Capital FM were playing that day. It’s not just Manchester – head to any city centre in the country on a Friday night and most of the music you hear coming out of clubs and bars is dull at best and painful at worst. In our Spotify-Soundcloud era, where there is so much incredible music so readily available, and almost everything ever recorded is available in some dusty corner of the internet, it is a crying shame to see people settling for such crap.

However, there are lights in the darkness. One such flame of joy goes by the name of B.L.O.O.M., an up-and-coming all-female crew of DJs and promoters based in Manchester aiming to deliver a healthy dose of musical originality, as well as promoting the many talented acts who don’t conform to the white-heterosexual-male-with-a-dodgy-haircut norm which is so ubiquitous in dance music. Ahead of their debut night at Soup Kitchen this Thursday, where they’ll be blessing everyone’s favourite basement with some hypnotic rhythms (and a set by Boiler Room alumnus Courtesy), Global Source caught up with two of the group’s members, Sofia and Phoebe, to talk about their upcoming night, representation within dance music, and what to look out for next from the B.L.O.O.M. girls.

Global Source: Hey guys. Great to have you here on Global Source! First things first, for those unaware, how would you describe B.L.O.O.M. in your own words?

B.L.O.O.M: Thanks for having us! B.L.O.O.M. is an all-female DJ collective based in South Manchester. We aim to promote gender equality in music through increasing the visibility of women and gender-non-conforming people! It actually stands for "Beautiful Ladies Organising Orgasmic Music" so we tend not to take ourselves too seriously and just have fun with what we play. Virtually anyone who gets involved can be a "beautiful lady" in our eyes.

GS: What made you form a collective, besides a shared love of great tunes?

B: There was a shared feeling of frustration among us all. We just felt we were surrounded by great nights in Manchester but they were all quite male-dominated. We wanted to create a space which would provide women with a platform to perform and create a community of lots of different types of people that could come together and party!

GS: That's cool. Do you feel like the number of different nights being put on in Manchester is a bit of a double edged sword, or do you consider it a positive thing overall?

B: We think it's really nice to be in such a diverse and creative city. There's so much opportunity for collaboration which is exciting, but then when the market is so over-saturated it makes it pretty difficult for new groups to be heard amongst the noise.

GS: Do you feel confident that B.L.O.O.M. can stand out from the crowd? Your shows on Limbo Radio and Reform Radio span an impressive range of styles and genres that should set you apart from the cookie-cutter tech-house and D&B crowd...

B: Yeah, apart from promoting gender equality, we think that's what distinguishes us from a lot of other nights. Everyone in B.L.O.O.M. plays such different stuff to one another, so we can put on a really diverse range of events. Phoebe is really into techno, breaks and world music, so her sets alone cover a lot of ground! Sofia’s been buying dusty old records since she was 13 so her sets tend to have a more nostalgic feel.

GS: While we’re on the subject of musical tastes, what would a B.L.O.O.M. radio show have sounded like if your 15-year-old selves were on the decks?

B: Sofia was actually already on the decks at 15 years old! She started playing northern soul in East London pubs and bars at that age and dabbled a bit in some of the psychedelic nights so hers probably would sound very similar to what she does now…with some shakier transitions, mind! Phoebe was obsessed with jungle and dub back when we were at school together so it would be more that sound.

GS: As I mentioned guys have a fair bit of experience spinning records on the modern miracle that is internet radio. Was the plan always to move on from radio to putting on your own nights?

B: Hmm… we wouldn’t say ‘moving on’, but the plan was always to run nights and radio shows alongside each other. Doing radio is great because there’s a lot more leeway to play more chilled out stuff that you just wouldn’t in a club. For example, Sofia did a bit of a 60s psychedelic special on Reform Radio but you’d rarely play that out in a club because it’s not exactly the easiest genre to mix into dance music! At the moment we rotate among ourselves between the shows so there’s always different styles to hear. Both Limbo and Reform have been so supportive of what we’re doing so we love getting to play with everyone there, too.

GS: Listening to the radio shows, it’s clear that you guys have really varied taste – the mix that you mentioned also included tracks from the Jackson 5 and afrobeat legend William Onyeabor. Not quite the same vibe as Courtesy, but can we expect future events to reflect the diverse musical tastes of the B.L.O.O.M. crew?

B: We actually have a show planned for February which we hope will fuse all of our styles together into a kind of big B.L.O.O.M. lovechild.

GS: Definitely one for the diaries - you heard it here first! So, this Thursday, Soup Kitchen will play host to B.L.O.O.M.’s debut appearance on the Manchester nightlife scene. And of course, you’ve booked the talented Courtesy to play as well. How are you feeling about it?

B: Eeek! We’d say we’re sitting somewhere between nervous anticipation and excitement. We’ve had a really amazing response so far which we are very thankful for but there is still a lot of work to do. Phoebe and Kitty have had a fair amount of experience running nights in other groups though, so we’re in good hands!

GS: Let’s talk about Courtesy. She seems to be doing pretty well for herself, and while doing some research on her I discovered she seems to be a big fan of flowered garments. Very apt for the B.L.O.O.M. theme – although I assume it was her mixing as well as her wardrobe that led you guys to book her for Friday night?

B: We can comfortably say it's nothing to do with her wardrobe! We booked her because we all think she's one of the most exciting women in electronic music right now. If you check out her Boiler Room or Resident Advisor mixes, she goes through all these really interesting breaks with melodic techno with dark, fuzzy stuff - there's so much more to it than a standard tech house set. We also booked her partially for selfish reasons of just all wanting to see her play!

GS: That seems fair enough - I'm sure nobody will hold it against you. Based on what I've heard from her, she should bring the perfect vibe for that Soup Kitchen basement - great venue to kick off your debut event! Given that you're intending to continue to promote diverse talent and draw attention to those who deserve more acclaim, have you got any ideas about acts you might like to book in future?

B: Gosh, there are so many we wouldn’t know where to start. We've some ideas floating around but we don’t want to give anything away. Guess you’ll just have to watch this space to find out! What we can tell you though is our next event will take place on the 23rd of November at Soup Kitchen with a very special guest...

GS: Exciting stuff... it's clear you guys have a lot going on behind the scenes. So on the show you guys did for Reform back in August, you played a really nice new track from the band Kala, called Wide Eyed To The Sun. How did that come about? Is showcasing up-and-coming acts like this something that you aim to continue, given that musical diversity the radio allows?

B: Yeah that's a great track! Kala are a London based jazz-electronic two-piece that we have mutual friends with, and we've been huge fans of them for a while. We strive for diversity in lineups and we want to showcase the incredible talent that’s out there but often goes unrecognised so supporting smaller acts is very much in line with our ethos. We also are proud that all our artwork and visuals has been created by up-and-coming women or gender-non-conforming hands! It’s pretty integral to our ethos that we don’t just appear to promote gender equality and local artists on the surface, but actually all behind the scenes work will be done by the kinds of people that we’re promoting.

GS: So, promoting diversity, great tunes and collaboration is the name of the game... I for one am on board. As you throw more events, will the B.L.O.O.M. residents be rotating in a similar way to the radio shows?

B: Yes, absolutely. We definitely plan on utilising our different musical tastes and as we grow we would love our roster of residents to grow with us so we can keep putting on some really exciting stuff.

GS: There's certainly a lot of potential there, and on behalf of Global Source I want to wish you guys every success, it's great to see like-minded people working together on such a cool project. Here's to a more diverse, authentic and stimulating scene for everyone!

You can get tickets for what is sure to be an enjoyable night for one and all right here.

Check out some of B.L.O.O.M.’s mixes for Reform Radio and Limbo Radio here and here.

And finally, check out the video below to see Courtesy tearing it up for the Boiler Room in Helsinki:

youtube

#nightlife #manchester #diversity #interview #courtesy #independent #equal representation #femaledj #soupkitchen #helsinki #boiler room

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